Michael Bland (born March 14, 1969) is best known as a drummer for Prince starting in 1989. He was with Prince during The New Power Generation era and played with him live and on albums for 7 years.

In 2010, Bland became a member of Nick Jonas and the Administration (a side project of Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers) along with other former members of The New Power Generation, bass player Sonny T. and keyboardist Tommy Barbarella.

Life and career

Bland was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He graduated from Minneapolis South High School in 1987, where he thrilled his classmates with amazing rhythms at Pep Fests and other events, and still resides in Minneapolis, but is often heading to LA as a session drummer for such artists as Mandy Moore, Clay Aiken, the Backstreet Boys, the Anchorman Soundtrack, and many more.

In 2000, he played in the Minneapolis project of french reed player Michel Portal (the rest of the band was Tony Hymas, Sonny T., Vernon Reid and Jef Lee Johnson). With Jef Lee Johnson and Sonny T., Michael Bland created News from the Jungle which recorded one album for Universal also produced by Jean Rochard. Both bands, Michel Portal's and News from the jungle, toured in France (Paris Olympia). Michael will also play on several tracks of the Michel Portal album Birdwatcher in 2006.

In 2005, Bland was the drummer for Paul Westerberg's tour, and he recently played on the Hurricane Katrina Relief telethon with the Dixie Chicks. Bland is also now working as a producer, currently working with the upcoming rock-pop band Catchpenny, also from Minneapolis.

He is the drummer on Soul Asylum's album The Silver Lining. He also tours with them.

Bland, with colleague and ex-NPG member Sonny T. (Thompson) teamed up with Prince once again to provide drumming for the title track of Prince's 3121 album.

Bland also played drums on Indigenous's 2006 album, Chasing the Sun.

In 2007 Bland & Thompson laid down the rhythmtracks for some tracks on Prince's 2007 CD 'Planet Earth'.

When not on tour, Bland can usually be found every Sunday and Monday night at the nightclub "Bunker's" in downtown Minneapolis performing with Dr. Mambo's Combo. Bland also performs in the area with pop/R&B band, The Rule.

During the fall of 2007 Michael Bland has been busy working on a release by his own protege, Mayda, performing with her regularly in the Minneapolis area as well as recording a studio album. Her first release, the Stereotype EP, was released in 2007. Michael Bland continued working with Mayda and played on and produced a full length album with her in 2009, titled The Interrogation.

Currently, Michael Bland is the drummer of the band Nick Jonas and The Administration. He is also rehearsing with The Peterson Family (which includes St. Paul Peterson, a former member of The Family, a Prince protege band from 1985) as the Peterson's prepare to go on an Australian tour in the summer of 2010.

It's nearly 1:30 Tuesday morning. Drummer Michael Bland knows this weekly routine like a 4/4 drum pattern. He steps off the stage at Bunker's Bar and Grill, and the leader of the Minneapolis bar-band institution known as Mambo's Combo gives him a handful of cash for his night's work.

The Twin Cities' preeminent drummer could have made more money in per diems touring with the Dixie Chicks this year. But it's not about the money for the 37-year-old Minneapolitan.

"He was born in this band," says Combo guitarist Billy Franze, who has played with Bland for 20 years. "He's extremely loyal. He likes the music and he likes the people." And the Combo loves Bland. "You get spoiled," Franze said. "He's one of the top five, 10 drummers in the whole world."

That's not hometown braggadocio. Madonna and Michael Jackson hired Bland, who was 19 when Prince discovered him one Monday night at Bunker's and lured him for a seven-year stint in his New Power Generation.

More recently, Bland worked with two Minnesota-bred rock icons -- Paul Westerberg and Jonny Lang -- and recently joined a third, Soul Asylum.

"I thought he was out of my league," said Soul Asylum singer Dave Pirner, explaining his initial hesitancy to audition Bland with founding members Danny Murphy and Karl Mueller. Bland started gigging with the group in the summer of 2004 and recorded a new album, "The Silver Lining," due in July. The quartet will play Wednesday at the Fine Line in Minneapolis.

"He's the best drummer on the planet," Pirner said. "He can play anything. I've never heard anything like him because he can swing and play aggressively and get a little groove into the rock thing."

Again, Bland's decision to join a band that was in limbo was about the spirit and the music, not the money.

"I bonded with Danny and Dave," Bland said. "We went through Karl's death [from cancer in 2005] together."

Guitarist Murphy was thrilled by Bland's decision to become a full-fledged member of the band: "He is inspiring to be playing with. And he's much looser-wound than the rest of us."

"Michael keeps everyone laughing," added the band's new bassist, former Replacement Tommy Stinson, who doesn't get much levity on his other job with Axl Rose's Guns 'N Roses. "And he is super-versatile."

That's a key quality that has led Los Angeles-based producer John Fields to hire Bland for various recording projects, including Mandy Moore, Har Mar Superstar and Evan & Jaron.

"Michael has a full encyclopedic knowledge of the history of pop music," said Fields, a former Twin Citian who played in bands here with Bland. "If I say, 'The kind of drum sound from the second Led Zeppelin album,' Michael understands that -- and all the other stuff, too, whether it's Backstreet Boys or any hit that's been on the radio. He knows what it's supposed to be and somehow manages to get his own spice in there, too."

Last year when Westerberg began rehearsals for his tour at an Edina studio, he seemed as lost as he did during a Replacements gig circa 1980. He'd call out a song title and then turn to Bland with a "How does this start?" look.

Not only did the drummer, who had done a previous tour with Westerberg, know the opening chords but also all the lyrics.

"He's the [bleeping] best. Period," Westerberg said.

Bland is the youngest of four children in a church-going family. Dad taught junior-high science. Mom worked at the St. Paul courthouse. Their only son started playing piano at age 6 and, a year later, took up baritone saxophone. At 9, he got hooked on drums. At 16, he won a "Twin Cities Best Drummer" contest and started gigging around town.

A year later, Bland was swept away by New York jazz/soul guitarist Hiram Bullock for some East Coast gigs. Shortly thereafter, he discovered Dr. Mambo's Combo at Bunker's, where, two decades later, he can be found nearly every Monday night.

With Prince, Bland -- who never got a silly nickname from his Purpleness like other band members did -- always stood out because of his size (5 feet 11 and more than 300 pounds) and his colorful outfits (hats, capes and loud eyeglasses). Nowadays, the drummer just favors prominent glasses and overalls.

Despite finding his fame with Prince's funk-rock from 1989 to '96, Bland refused to be typecast.

"I have managed to cover a lot of ground artistically in this business," he said. "I don't have a niche or a genre or a strong suit."

He's so widely respected that he gets referrals all the time. Last fall, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers couldn't make a Hurricane Katrina benefit to accompany the Dixie Chicks, so an assistant engineer called Bland. He got the job, and the country trio offered him a yearlong gig in their touring band.

"That was the equivalent of taking a desk job, not that I don't like the Dixie Chicks," he said, adding that he got a call in the middle of all this to rehearse with Nine Inch Nails in Los Angeles. "I made no contribution to the Dixie Chicks' record. We'd just met, and they're not from Minneapolis. So I decided [instead] to scrap it out with the underdog Soul Asylum." He also turned down offers this year from Lang and John Mayer.

Bland's raspy, robust voice resonates like a bass drum. Born-again and college educated, he can get philosophical. But for him, it boils down to the fact that he's a musician, not a businessman.

"I definitely don't work for free, but I don't work for money, either," he says. "I don't like knowing how much money I'm going to make before the year's out. I think your income should be proportionate to your hustle."

In the '90s, he picked up paychecks from two of the biggest names of his generation -- Madonna and Michael Jackson -- without ever hitting the road.

Madonna dismissed Bland after the third day of tour rehearsals in New York after realizing that he was overqualified. She gave him severance pay and replaced him with a drum programmer.

Jackson hired him for a concert tour but Bland lost patience with the delays and jumped back to touring with Westerberg. Bland also auditioned for Guns 'N Roses, toured with R&B star Maxwell and plays in his own gospel-rock group, Sons of Almighty.

There is only one artist on his wish list: Sly Stone.

A 'traffic cop'

Bland sees his role in a band as "no more than an overglorified traffic cop. Stop. Go."

That's fairly self-effacing for the usually outspoken drummer, who is known for being more blunt than bland.

"I pride myself on being open and direct," he says.

"He's brutally honest," says Franze, who considers Bland his best friend. "He'll never lie to you, even if he should."

Undaunted, Bland speaks his mind and still gets called by Prince, who is notorious for not returning to local musicians he has let go. Bland plays on the title track of Prince's new "3121" album, and often answers late-night calls to come to Paisley Park to record (he lives only 10 minutes away in Eden Prairie).

Bland is excited about being in Soul Asylum. He understands the history -- he once went to a house party where Loud Fast Rules, Soul Asylum's precursor, was playing -- as well as the challenge.

"Soul Asylum really has something to build. They've been off the radar for --what? -- since '98 with their last studio record, 'Candy From a Stranger.' Something to prove is kind of important, too."

Even though he's on a mission with Soul Asylum, Bland has an unspoken obligation on any given Monday. If he's in town, he'll be on the bandstand at Bunker's with Mambo's Combo. He has nothing to prove there. "I'd rather be making music," he simply says, "than doing anything else."